Women In Bollywood: The Changes We’re Seeing And The Ones We Need To

There's no denying that as with every industry in the world, Bollywood too is largely male dominated... okay, maybe totally male dominated. But, of late, as the world makes way for women to FINALLY shine their brightest, Bollywood has been opening its doors too. Hold up though, we're far from where we need to be in terms of gender equality in the biggest film industry in the world. But, in an effort to get where we need to be, maybe a slight appreciation of the current progress might help us get there faster. Bollywood sure has come a long way since the time when men would play female characters because women weren't allowed to act. Now there are women who not only act, but produce, direct and do a hell of a lot more in the industry than you can even imagine.

For as long as we can all remember, Hindi films have always been about the hero, and as much as we hate to admit it, they still very much are. The hero carries the entire movie, while the woman opposite him is often just a prop. They're portrayed as dependent on the male protagonist, overtly emotional and weak, not given close to as much screen time and not allowed basic character development. All of that has been changing in the last couple of years, though. We currently have more strong, powerful and determined actresses and filmmakers than ever before, and we have high hopes for the evolution they're going to bring about. While this whole ‘abla naari' concept hasn't still been completely done away with, there has been a noticeable change in the way female characters have been dealt with in male-dominated films.

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One of the most noticeable changes has been the rise of female-led films (and we can't explain the joy we feel). Actresses like Sridevi, Vidya Balan, Kangana Ranaut, Rani Mukerji, Priyanka Chopra, Taapsee Pannu, Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt are powering through the industry right now, in films where they play the protagonist. What's even better is that through this newfound freedom and power to wholly portray female characters, these actresses are able to showcase all the facets of a woman - from fear and vulnerability to unimaginable strength, a sense of evil and a thirst for vengeance when need be, kindness and heart and the ability to whoop someone's ass at the same time. And watching women just like us be so independent and true to themselves, and finally being able to take charge of their true potential as artists, makes us really happy. We can only hope this continues and gets even more empowering for the thousands of women watching across the country and the world.

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Women in Bollywood have also stepped up in various other roles in the industry lately, and it's gone a long way in aiding this tipping of the scales. Women like Sonam and Rhea Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Anushka Sharma have opened their own production houses; this not only allows them the ability to make the films they want to for themselves, but also for them take charge in another sphere of Bollywood. The influx of more female directors like Ashwini Iyer Tiwari, Zoya Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma and Gauri Shinde also makes us hopeful for the kind of content we can expect as the years go by.

One of the things that is still holding us back from getting to the gender equal space we so desperately need in cinema is the overt sexualisation of women, namely in item numbers. We have nothing against women being the amazing, sexy beings that they are. But being just a scantily-clad, gyrating entertainer for the pleasure of multiple sleazy men in the name of "entertainment" is reductive. Apart from the end of item numbers being a directorial call, it's also a move that requires the actresses themselves to say no to, which we hope will happen in the near future.

Don't get us wrong, we love our heroes and there's never going to be a film industry without men (even if we wanted it to be). But, it's still a world where women are being underrepresented and, frankly, not given the opportunity to do anything close to what they're capable of, and it's beyond time for that to change. While we're thankful for the revolution that has been set in motion in Bollywood by current actress and male artists and filmmakers alike, we've got a long way to go, and we're so here for it.